front wide instead of rear surrounds?

Originally Posted by tezster

Hmm... given your current speaker placement, you can't really go "wide" since your L/R speakers are already located along the full width of the front wall. So, I think the choice becomes pretty clear: front heights, since that's really the only option left.

edit: just to add, given the depth of the room and your current layout, I think there's room to move the couch/sectional up, which would then allow you to use rear surrounds. That is, of course, assuming you're allowed to make such a change.

Originally Posted by sdurani

With 5 speakers already in the listener plane, I would do height speakers to give the system some vertical dimensionality. Place the heights where you were going to place wides, but as hight up as possible. Will give a better sense of overhead sounds than placing height speakers high up on the front wall (which will give more of an impression of a tall soundstage).

Originally Posted by hd_newbie

If couch is against the wall, rear surrounds are generally not recommended. You can go by wide or height channels. Audyssey recommends wide to height if you need to choose between the 2 if memory serves me right.

Originally Posted by flickhtguru

If your receiver doesn't have Audyssey DSX then there is no such thing as front wides...... PLIIz uses front height speakers.

Originally Posted by tezster

When you mention the 'middle ones', do you mean the speakers with the arrows pointed at them? To be honest, I wasn't sure what those were for exactly when I looked first looked at the photo; I'm assuming that's the proposed location you're installing the speakers? If that's the case, that seems too far in front for a typical front height setup.

What's your ceiling height? And do you have the option of installing the front heights directly above your front speakers?

Originally Posted by sdurani

I don't know if Wides would be a worse option; I just think you'd get a more noticeable effect with Heights.

There are various recommendations for Height speaker placement: some say directly above the L/R mains, others say higher and wider than the mains, and so on. In my experience, placing them high up on the front wall tends to yield more of a taller soundstage than overhead imaging. Moving them closer to the listener gives more of the "above you" impression.

Since there are no standards for height speaker placement, you're free to do what sounds best in your room.

Originally Posted by Airion

According to Audyssey, front height speakers should be at a 45 degree angle, pointing down at the listener. This would suggest that you should put them on the ceiling at whatever point achieves this angle, then with calibration (auto or manual) the receiver would compensate for the difference in distance between your fronts and front heights. This way you have truly front height speakers, instead of front a-little-higher.

But, they go on in that link to suggest that nonetheless it's best to just put them as high as possible on the front wall regardless of the angle. Just point them at the listener. This gives better coverage, which I think makes sense, it's more likely to be pointing at everyone in the room to matter where they are.

Personally, if I wasn't worried about having a narrow sweet spot, I'd go with the 45 degree placement. Looks like that sofa is the only listening spot you need to worry about anyway.